Nun In The Canterbury Tales

Words: 520
Pages: 3
Open Document
In Chaucer’s general prologue of The Canterbury Tales, he describes to the reader each individual pilgrim on this great pilgrimage that they are on. He tells the reader of each one of the pilgrim’s reputation, clothing, appearance, and flaws.
Chaucer describes the characters with such detail to give the reader a better understanding of what people were like in the medieval times. Therefore after the reader is educated on what each character was like and how they were supposed to act like and what they were supposed to do. Chaucer begins to try to connect the dots for you on how society in the Medieval times was corrupt.
In the prologue he tells of a nun, prioress, and everyone know that nuns are supposed to give themselves up to God and be humble and only have in their possessions what they absolutely needed. However this nun was not exactly the prime example, as Chaucer describes she was flirty, rich, and loved attention which may I remind you is not what nuns in those times were supposed to act like. He describes her clothes as provocative, and very slim and fitting. She is descrided to not wear pannty hoes like she should have becuase bare skin was not acceptable. Most would see her and describe her as a modern day hoe and that is most likely what they thought of her in those times as well. …show more content…
Normally when you hear of a monk you envision a bald man in raggedy garments that is very godly and studies the bible for the most part of his day. However he is described as a man that likes to hunt and not study. He is said to dress very nicely, and is very tan and is very garnished. It describes him as fat, bald, big eyes, and all shiny with grease. This is another character that Chaucer uses to show how the medieval society was corrupt and broken. The monk just like the nun are supposed to be godly and only need what they have to have and give to the poor and this is not the case in The Canterbury
Show More

Related Documents: Nun In The Canterbury Tales

Comparing The Nun And Wife Of Bath In The Canterbury Tales

criticizes most of the characters in his story. In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer shows this when he talks about his characters, the Nun and the Wife of Bath. Chaucer’s opinion of them is shown by the way he has written about their characteristics. The characters show their thoughts and feelings by how they act and look. So, the similarities and differences between the Nun and the Wife of Bath are viewed by Chaucer’s opinion of all women. In the Canterbury tales, Chaucer explains his characters so deeply that…

Words 357 - Pages 2

Canterbury tales Essay

author of “The Canterbury Tales” he writes of a pilgrimage that he goes on with other pilgrims. On this pilgrimage each pilgrim is to tell four tales each two tales on the way to the Canterbury Cathedral and two tales on the way back. Many of these tales have hints of irony. Irony is when the use of the words the pilgrims use in their story conveys a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. Two of the stories that Chaucer writes are “The Prioress Tale” and “The Pardoners Tale”. Both of these…

Words 1055 - Pages 5

Comparing Women In Beowulf And The Canterbury Tales

their role in society. Literature served to establish a standard that women were meant to follow. Women who failed to abide to the restricting mold, were ultimately useless. This duality can be observed by the female characters in Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales. In medieval literature, only women confined to men are of any worth and those unconfined pose a threat to male-dominated society. Beowulf illustrates the parallel between an extremely confined and unconfined woman. The woman in Beowulf confined…

Words 878 - Pages 4

The Portrayal of the Clergy in the Canterbury Tales Essay

The Portrayal of Religion and the Clergy in The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, felt that the Church's turmoil experienced during the fourteenth century contributed to the a declining trust of clergy and left the people spiritually devastated. The repeated epidemics that the European Church experienced weakened the church by highlighting the clergy's inability to face adversity. The clergy's inability to provide relief for the people during a period of suffering did…

Words 1146 - Pages 5

The Responsibility Of Women In Miller's Tale

people expected women to fill one of only two roles: a faultless nun or submissive wife (Vaněčková 15). Many people in this time period believed that women could not fully fill even those roles because they thought women were sinful. The Catholic Church used the story of Adam and Eve to reveal the wicked and tempting nature of…

Words 1780 - Pages 8

Essay on Criticism of the Church in the Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales, a collection of tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, was written in Middle English at the end of the 14th century (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011). It is considered to be the best work of literature in English in the Middle Ages (Johnston, 1998). Chaucer uses literary devices as no one had ever done. In addition, he chose to use English instead of Latin. This masterpiece is structured in a similar way as Bocaccio's Decameron. The tales are organized within a frame narrative (Encyclopaedia…

Words 1569 - Pages 7

The Use Of Satire In The Canterbury Tales

In the piece “The Canterbury Tales the General Prologue”, we examined how the author proved the characters to reflect the social classes of medieval society. In this story Chaucer uses satire to shine a light on what he felt to be wrongs of society. The characters of this time were extremely modernized, in other terms, they were not what you would expect. They were the exact opposite of how they should act, dress, and appear. The characters reveal the author’s purpose in a modern way, like today’s…

Words 577 - Pages 3

Chaucer's Description of The Prioress and The Monk in the Prologue from The Canterbury Tales Essay

Chaucer's "The prologue" to the Canterbury tales? We learned that both the monk and the nun are culpable of breaking their vows of reverence and privation. They tried to be recognized a certain way, but they will never follow the rules because they are against of what they like to do. They both like the tittles of monk or prioress but do not want to do "what it takes" to be a truthful servant of God. None of them are authentic and truthful, Chaucer portrays the nun as not being credible with her manners…

Words 414 - Pages 2

What Is Prioress's Role In The Canterbury Tales

In the story, The Canterbury Tales the Nun, Prioress is trying to be very delicate. She sang her prayers in a fine fall pitch voice through her nose. “She sang a service with a fine intoning through her nose” (126-127). Her singing was sort of funny to some people. She was learning incorrectly French from Stratford-atte -Bowe. “She spoke daintily in French, extremely after the school of Stratford -atte-Bowe French in the Paris style she did not know” (128-130). She did not know what she was saying…

Words 390 - Pages 2

The Pilgrims In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Each of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales has different personalities which are illustrated in his or her tales. It is important to note that the way the reader perceives the personalities of the different pilgrims is largely affected by how Chaucer chooses to remember the pilgrims and portray them. While reading the myriad of tales, it becomes apparent that while each of the pilgrims has unique personalities, a majority of the Church-affiliated pilgrims seem to share commonality of corruption…

Words 1143 - Pages 5